How marvelous! Jon Scieszka - the author of that middle school favorite series
The Time Warp Trio books - has been named the first US Children's Literature Laureate!
Evangelist for reading By DAPHNE LEE
JON Scieszka has been named the
United States’ first ambassador for children’s literature by the Library of Congress.
Scieszka’s job, a two-year appointment that comes with an annual stipend of US $25,000 is to promote reading and literature among the young. He was a popular choice, as the selection committee felt that the author is someone that children can easily relate to.
In an interview with The New York Times, Robin Adelson, executive director of the Children’s Book Council of America, said, “There are a lot of phenomenal writers and illustrators out there, but we wanted somebody with charisma, who is comfortable travelling and speaking and who could reach children, parents, educators and speak to a roomful of librarians.”
Scieszka (pronounced Shess-ka) has already had considerable experience actively promoting reading as he founded and runs
Guys Read (guysread.com), a web-based literacy programme, which aims to motivate reading among boys (boys are biologically slower to develop reading and writing skills than girls) by connecting them to books they want to read: often, reading material that interests boys (non-fiction, joke books, comics, magazines, manuals) are not considered “worthy” by parents or educators.
As children’s literature ambassador, Scieszka will be able to reach out to an even wider audience. In The New York Times, he said, “People say, ‘All my son will read is Captain Underpants,’ or ‘My son is crazy about shark books, is that okay?’ I want to be the person to say, ‘Yeah, that’s really okay as long as he’s motivated to want to read.”
Scieszka is best known for children’s books that are funny, irreverent, silly and include fairly disgusting moments, which tend to endear them to young readers.
Scieszka's favorite book? "
Go, Dog. Go!" by
P. D. Eastman. "It sent me down the road to the absurd writing life. Dogs driving around in cars, and having a party in a tree! That's my kind of story" said the new laureate.
Here’s a brief guide to favourite Scieszka books, all of which are illustrated by Lane Smith:
COWBOY AND OCTOPUS
COWBOY and Octopus (both cut-out figures whose poses are fixed throughout the story) are an unlikely pair, the situations are absurd and the conversations bizarre and random, but all the better to stress the book’s message that true friendship transcends differences, the strangest quirks and most trying habits and scenarios. Sure, it doesn’t always make sense but then neither does life. Scieszka and Smith’s latest collaboration is one of my favourite picture books of 2007.
MATHS CURSE
FOLLOWING her teacher’s (Mrs Fibonacci!) observation that, “Almost everything in life can be considered a math problem,” a young girl finds it impossible to do, think about or look at anything without making a sum and dance out of it: a pizza lunch becomes a case of fractions; she solves her ugly plaid shirt problem by subtracting it from her wardrobe; and, finally, faced with an infinite number of math problems and armed only with a piece of chalk, she snaps it in two, puts the two halves together and escapes through the “whole”.
THE STINKY CHEESE MAN AND OTHER FAIRLY STUPID TALES
SCIESZKA parodies favourite fairy tales and storybook characters like Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red Running Shorts) and the Gingerbread Man (the Stinky Cheese Man). Instead of the sky, it’s the book’s table of contents that Chicken Licken thinks is falling. In the meantime, Red Running Shorts finds out what’s in store for her at Grandma’s cottage and refuses to participate in her story! In 1993, this book won The New York Times’ best illustrated book award and was a Caldecott Honor book.
THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
THE classic fairy tale of the three pigs (who looked down their snouts at sty-living) is re-told by the wolf (Alexander T. Wolf) who, if he’s to be believed, was just a victim of circumstance.
For a start, he was not stalking pigs, simply trying to borrow a cup of sugar. And can you blame him if a bad cold resulted in a sneeze powerful enough to bring a house crashing down? (I wonder if Alex Wolf is also given to wearing nighties and impersonating grandmothers!)
Daphne Lee has a huge book collection that goes back more than 30 years and is still growing. Her dream is to own a bookstore and write good children’s books. Send e-mails to the above address and check out her blog at
daphne.blogs.com/books.
Robin says: Richfield Library already has The 3 Little Pigs & Stinky Cheese Man; I'll be asking Linda if we can order Cowboy and Octopus & The Maths Curse soon!
